Book Review: "The Artists Guide: How to Making a Living Doing What You Love” by Jackie Battenfield

5 out of 5 stars

I can not say enough GREAT THINGS about this book or recommend it to enough artists! The Artist's Guide: How To Make A Living Doing What You Love has been a big eye opener and helpful guide for what it takes to be a professional artists. Jackie Battenfield freely shares the knowledge she has gained as a professional artist for the last 20+ years for beginning or re-beginning artists to reference as they embark on their own journey. Battenfield takes a very practical and realistic approach to what it means to be an artist. She gives a thoroughly overview of a lot of the responsibilities, problems and needs an artist will face and how to deal with them.

I know for me as a student, there are many unsure areas of what needs to be done to make money in the art world. Battenfield has been very helpful in paving a more clear picture for me of what it will take. I am not saying this book gives every answer I'll ever need to know or is the only resource I would ever need, but it helps bring light to a lot of what was once unknown. It makes it clearer how and where to start a career as an artist.

In her book, Battenfield covers a lot of essential skills an artist should develop, like setting goals, how to write an artists statement, a resume,a bio and how to make work samples, and she gives advice on organizational skills. She discusses grants, residencies, copy right laws, taxes and building a network of artists and other art professionals to draw upon for help. She offers guidelines for exhibiting your work and gives resources for finding galleries that are a right match. She also outlines who the key players are in the art world and what role they play. (Most of this information I had little knowledge of beforehand so I received it all gladly)!

At the end each chapter, Battenfield gives a list of resources (with a brief description of what information that resource contains) that gives direction of where to look next for more information covered in the chapter. I found her brief descriptions to be very helpful in choosing what other resources I would be interested looking in to.

To sum up my overall feelings about the book, I was actually sad when I finished it. Battenfield began to feel like real, helping friend to me. I felt like I knew her and her career intimately. Her writing approach was often personal, she gave great antidotes and I could relate to what she was saying. I even felt at times as though as I was having a conversation with her. It was a very easy and enjoyable read. This is a book I plan on re-reading over and over again throughout my career and I see myself reference it often for advice about the many responsibilities I will face as a professional artist.

Book Review: "COLOR: messages and meanings" by Leatrice Eiseman

A must have:


5 out of 5 Stars
This book is a great resource for all artists, but especially for graphic designers, interior designers, and commercial photographers. This book is an essential resource (it is targeted to this audience . . . especially graphic designers). I am not a graphic designer, but if I was, I know I would be referencing this book daily for inspiration and direction. I have read a couple books on color (color theory, color symbolism) and this is the best book I have read. The author, Leatrice Eiseman, has strong credentials and it shows in her book. She knows what she is talking about. The book is easy and enjoyable to read and very informative.

It starts by covering the basic colors (red, blue, brown, purple, orange, etc.) and the symbols/moods associated with those colors. She even touches on how colors effect us psychologically. At the end of a color section she lists different shades of that color along with positive and sometimes negative adjectives/symbols often associated with these colors. I found this section the most interesting. It was very informative and comprehensive. It is a very helpful reference for any artist who works in color to better understand what role color plays in sharing a message with their audience.

The next section is about color in the marketplace. This section is more about using color in the advertisement world. She focuses on creating an identity for a company and how color effects their image and reflects their mission as a company. Eiseman talks about using color as an attention grabber and using appropriate colors to fit certian ages, genders, and shopping patterns.

The next section goes into color relationships. She has a brief section about color schemes on the color wheel and the messages sent by using those schemes. Following this, she gives 20 different moods (exotic, sentimental, unique, restful, assertive, nightlife, etc.) with a brief description of the mood and associated colors. Then, on the next page, there are 20 colored squares giving examples of a dominant, subordinate, and accent color combinations that could be used to convey that mood. The part I found most impressive is at the end of the book where she has a chart of every color she used in the book and the CMYK numbers for that color! This chart is a great time saver and will help you get the exact color combination desired. It makes this book a very practical reference book.

In the last section, she covers color trends in the advertisement world and how to spot them. She briefly discusses trends in fashion, graphic design, technology, and art. She even gives specific examples of places to look.

I really loved this book. Not only are the images beautiful and pleasurable to look at, but it is packed full of information. It is the best book on color I have seen or read. I STRONGLY recommend it to anyone who works with or is interested in color theory, color relationships, or color symbolism. If you are a graphic designer, this book is a must have. It is worth every dollar spent on it!